Glyphland

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Michigan's 2006 class will be a small one. And this year, we really mean that. The 2005 class was also supposed to be small, but a huge amount of attrition boosted it up to 23 recruits. Next year a huge amount of attrition might get Michigan up into the mid-teens. The departures of Lawrence Reid, Joey Sarantos, Ernest Shazor, and Alex Ofili leaves Michigan's projected senior class with just 10 players. Michigan is at the 85 scholarship limit at the moment.

That number will probably go up, perhaps sooner than later due to the uncertain status of Larry Harrison. Additionally, Michigan has three potential early-entry NFL draft candidates in CB Leon Hall, OLB/DE Lamarr Woodley, and WR Steve Breaston. It's doubtful any of those three players leave after this year but not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Some players will not return for optional fifth years, others may transfer to schools with better opportunities for playing time. Expect a class of around fifteen players.

Michigan will focus heavily on QBs, LBs, and DBs in this class. Expect a smaller than usual offensive line class and only a couple players at the offensive skill positions.

A Note on "Stars": These are my guesstimates. Players don't have stars associated with them yet. When the recruiting services add them I'll adjust my ratings. (Update 6/1: Rivals has posted their ratings; still waiting on Scout. Rankings will be an amalgam of both with half-stars assigned as needed.)

A Note on Premium Info: No illict sharing of said material will appear on this site. Players are listed with interested schools in their profiles; this information is public. Commitments are by definition public. Any assertions as to schools in the mix, decision dates, or leaders I will back up with links to public information.

This is a work in progress, obviously, that will be updated a lot.Note: All the updates were pushing down the board way down; I've shifted them to the end. The last two or three updates will still be displayed in this space.

Be sure to read the official mgoblogrecruiting philosophy before committing suicide over anything you read here.

QuarterbackNeeds: Michigan will take a QB in this class and pit him against Jason Forcier when Henne departs. Whoever Michigan picks up will have the opportunity to start as a redshirt sophomore so there is a good chance that an Elite-11 type QB will come aboard.

Update 6/29: The commitment of David Cone complicates things. Will Michigan really be content with one sleeper quarterback who runs the option in high school? Not to knock Cone--a camp offer with things seemingly looking good for FL super Tim Tebow indicates that Loeffler and company like Cone a lot--but he carries a much higher risk factor than a quarterback in a passing offense. Michigan will continue to recruit Tebow and the other quarterbacks with offers and will take a commitment if they can, but guys like Hartline or Hakes are probably S.O.L.

Running Back / FullbackNeeds: Almost none. Mike Hart, Max Martin, and Kevin Grady are all underclassmen and should form a Three Headed Monster of Doom next year. Apparently, three-star signee Mister Simpson is being brought in as a tailback as well. Michigan will probably take a single RB next year just to have someone.

Wide ReceiverNeeds: Michigan has an embarrassment of riches at wide reciever after a two-year run of top-100 playmakers. This could be a year where Michigan forgoes a wideout entirely, but they'll probably take at least one. I would expect two only if a player they can't say no to wants to come aboard.

Wide Receivers

Commitments

Name

State

Stars

Schools

Notes

Greg Mathews

FL

****

Michigan

Rivals100 (#91); camped all week; Orlando Sentinel article; verbal now soft as he has visted OSU and will visit FSU but seems likely to stick.

Tight EndNeeds: Freakazoid athlete Carson Butler came in last year and Mike Massey has impressed as a redshirt freshman, so Michigan may not pursue tight ends heavily this year.

Prospects

Name

State

Stars

Schools

Notes

Committed Elsewhere: Nate Byham(Pitt), Dedrick Epps(Miami).

Offensive LineNeeds: Michigan signed a second consecutive bumper crop of offensive linemen last year. With nine recruits over the last two years and a small class projected for 2006, Michigan will be very selective with its OL recruiting. Two or three players will likely come aboard, probably a tackle and a couple of interior linemen.

Update 4/10: Michigan will be taking at most one additional interior lineman after Boren's commit. With the depth they've built at G and C be assured that anyone who commits before February will be a prospect the coaches think very highly of.

Defensive TackleNeeds: Michigan pulled four top-100 jumbo athletes slated for the defensive line last year and will probably go easy this year. Marques Slocum and Terrance Taylor seem to be natural DTs. Eugene Germany and James McKinney are already around 270 pounds and could slide inside. Michigan may take one defensive tackle.

Defensive EndNeeds: Michigan will be looking for an edge rusher this year in the mold of a Woodley. Micah Johnson of Kentucky is a likely five-star who fits that profile very well. He actually plays MLB for his high school team at about 260.

Did not play football until senior year, but made quite an impression when he did. Scout article; Free Press article.

LinebackerNeeds: Major. Scott McClintock and Pierre Woods will graduate next year. Lawrence Reid's career came to an unexpected end this offseason due to a degenerative neck injury. The only true linebacker Michigan signed last year was three-star Brandon Logan, who is undersized and far from a sure thing. Michigan will probably take three or even four linebackers this year. Fortunately, it appears that Michigan is in superb shape for a number of big-timmahs.

Update 6/29: With Mixon, Graham, and Patilla in the fold Michigan is either completely or almost done with linebackers this year. Michigan won't be offering any marginal prospects but would probably take a commit from someone like Jeremiha Hunter, Josh Tatum, or DE/LB Micah Johnson since Patilla and Graham could potentially play other positions (WR and DE, respectively).

CornerbackNeeds: Michigan signed three corners last year, one of whom--Chris Richards--will greyshirt, but that doesn't mean they won't be after more this year. Michigan hasnt recruited a blue-chip CB since Marlin Jackson. They'll be after a big fish this year.

Cornerbacks

Commitments

Name

State

Stars

Schools

Notes

SafetyNeeds: With Nic Harris' last second switch, Michigan failed to sign a player at safety last year. Michigan will go hard after a couple this year, and are in good position for a couple of top national prospects in Myron Rolle and Taylor Mays. Rivals' preseason AA John Maddox is also a possibility; he attends Philadelphia West Catholic with signee Marques Slocum.

Update 4/5: Maddox has turned into a WR recruit and all-everything Myron Rolle has let it be known that he wants to be recruited at corner, leaving the safety position pretty thin on numbers. WR recruit Jamar Hornsby may play safety as well.

KickersNeeds: Garret Rivas will be a junior next year. Michigan was looking around for kickers this year to walk on and accept a scholarship after his graduation. If one of those kickers accepts the partial walk-on offer, Michigan won't take anyone. If not, Michigan may look around for someone who will accept a similar arrangement. Punter is taken care of by ZOLTAN THE INCONCEIVABLE.

Update 2/18: Added a bunch of tables. Should finish the remainder soon. New names all over. Definite assertions that Michigan leads for PA linebackers Dorin Dickerson and Jeremiah Hunter and is co-leader with UVA for PA CB Darrin Walls. Questionable assertion based on message board speculation that M and UVA lead for OH DL Antonio Reed.

Update 2/20: Tabled the rest of the charts. Added schools and notes for many prospects; still working on completing that. Added speculative M lead for Justin Boren based on NDNation poster claiming to be classmate (thanks to reader Jon Chavez for the tip).

Update 5/13:Stopped pretending it was still April, added DE Brandon Spikes, CB Jovani Chappel, who I thought was already listed. Removed WR Wesley Lyons, QB Pat Devlin, QB Matt Stafford. Changed Cobrani Mixon's status after a scout article indicated that he was favoring the SEC. Added a bunch of scout links (suggest you look at the Steve Schilling pic--right out of Bo-era UM). Noted that FL leads for another QB--if he commits Tebow will head elsewhere. Changed Justin Boren's status to committed.

Update 5/19: Removed Jamie Cumbie after referenced article said he was down to ND and Clemson. Changed Cobrani Mixon's status again after free Scout article. Linked to Micah Johnson article in which he does not list Michigan among his top 7(!) schools. Bother.

Update 5/27: Removed IN FB Luke Schmidt (ND commit), re-added PA QB Pat Devlin after Michigan people started talking about him again. Not to go all sour grapes, but I doubt Schmidt had an offer w/ the small class and a scholarship fullback last year. Added CA LB Josh Tatum.

Update 6/1: Rivals has released its initial five stars and top 100, and everyone's notes have been updated to reflect the new information. There are still a few "4.5" stars out there for guys who will probably be Scout 5-stars but not Rivals 5-stars; Scout usually gives out maybe 20 additional five-star ratings. I also rearranged them so the players are more or less in ranking order. Moved DeMarco Murray to RB from CB, Steve Brown to S from CB, Brandon Spikes from DE to LB.

Update 6/2: Linked to a very nice free Scout article on CA LB Josh Tatum. Says he has a top seven but declares that he will definitely visit three schools and there's a "90 percent chance" he'll visit Michigan and Oklahoma. Sounds like a top five to me. Normally I would write this guy off to USC but the Trojans have recruited a horde of linebackers over the past five years, including a pair of five stars just last February. Also removed PA WR Aaron Smith. Added a link to a Patrick Rigan article on Rivals and a strange free article from a University of Cincinatti site on PA WR/LB Dorin Dickerson. The latter seems like good news, as Dickerson is quoted saying, "Michigan has definitely made that extra effort in recruiting me that not many other schools have."

Update 6/6: Removed WR Menelik Holt(Neb commit). Sigh of relief about Micah Johnson, who lists us as one of six in this article. Added NY WR Vidal Hazelton and VA WR Chris Bell.

Update 6/9: Linked to article in which GA DE Jermaine Cunningham names a trio of SEC schools as leaders. Added CA QB Jake Locker, who appears to be the first quarterback after the Big Four to get offered. Added note that Taylor Mays is making an August decision. Linked to War & Peace-sized Myron Rolle article.

Update 6/16: Finally removed LeSean McCoy after reading this PA Homestyle Sports entry. Given the way things are going (Percy Harvin now lists UM along with USC and the three Florida schools and added UM immediately after I sliced him off), we should lead for McCoy in under a month until I put him back on the list, upon which he'll immediately commit to Buffalo. Also removed IN LB AJ Edds. Changed Jeremiha Hunter's status... Michigan has fallen back to the back. Updated some schools for other players, as well.

Update 6/21: Added FL OT Daron Rose. Linked Pat Devlin Scout article and Antwine Perez Scout article. Sounds like USC is the current leader for Perez but he has nice things to say about Michigan. Extrapolated from article title and Dorin Dickerson profile that he's down to Michigan and Pitt (probably). His coach is the father of Pitt QB Tyler Palko and he lives in Pittsburgh--it will be close. Also linked to Travis Goethel Scout article.

Update 6/26: Added GA QB David Cone and MI LB Quintin Patilla. Cone apparently got a camp offer despite hardly throwing for his option-crazy high school team. Linked to two CantonRepository articles on OH QB Mike Hartline, who camped at both Michigan and OSU recently. Asserted that Harline will commit if offered. Removed OH QB Miles Schlister (no way he gets offered) and OH OL Connor Smith (trust me). Linked to GBW article indicating that OH WR Robby Paris has been offered. Added NH(!) FB(!) Scott Spyrka because of same article. Also linked to a couple of recentreports from the Pittsburgh Sports Report. Each covers multiple players. To sum up: UF, ND, UM for Darrin Walls, Jared Odrick has us in his list of 15, PA QB Kevan Smith may get an offer sometimes soon, we're there with Jeremiha Hunter but no longer a clear leader, and Nate Byham did not mention Michigan on his list of five schools. More Paris: check out kickass video here, and Buckeye fans wondering why such a kickass kicker of asses isn't interested in Ohio State.

Update 6/30: Linked to Sam Young article in which he declares his final seven schools: USC, Stanford, Michigan, PSU, ND, UF, and Miami. Noted that Antwine Perez' profile has him down to USC, LSU, and Michigan. Linked to a Chris Bell article--sounds like Michigan will probably at least get an official--and an interview with Myron Rolle and his father.

Update 8/2: Linked to Devin Ross article; in it he pretty directly states that a USC offer will mean a USC commitment... why haven't the Trojans offered the #2 CB in the country? Removed NY WR Vidal Hazelton, who has dropped us and AR OL Bartley Webb(ND). Linked to Darrin Walls article, added LA OL Doug Stroud.

Update 8/10: Removed NJ WR Andrey Baskin, who dropped us. Also removed DT Aundre Henderson, who committed to Minnesota... Minnesota? Linked to a couple articles, one in the Seattle Times on Taylor Mays and Steve Schilling, the other a Rivals article on Mays citing the Times article.

Update 12/12: Linked to Mike Morgan article where he names three leaders, none of whom are Michigan. Removed LB Toryan Smith(ND), moved LB/FB Obi Ezeh to commited. Added NY TE Andrew Quarless; profile indicates he is visiting this weekend. Noted that WR commit Greg Mathews moved into the Rivals 100 at #91 after their last update... no, I haven't updated everyone else's rankings. Cone also got a bonus star, he's now got 3.

Removed OMG SHIRTLESS TIM TEBOW.

Update 12/19: Added MI S Aaron Gant and MI DE Quintin Woods, removed IN DT Dexter Larimore(OSU) and re-added KY DT Corey Peters, who was apparently just offered. Reaction to the Larimore commitment? Removed WR Percy Harvin(UF). Added GA RB Carlos Brown as a commitment. Updated Jonas Mouton's school list based on a Scout article header: Nebraska is out. Final three are USC, LSU, and UM... where have we heard that before?

"I 'd say there's a 65-70% chance I'll commit to Ohio State over the other programs."

Mentally moving him to the "written off" bin. Also linked to Scout article on Brandon Minor. Minor is noncommittal in the article, though he does get off this totally awesome quote:

"Coach (Lloyd) Carr was here on Jan. 3, and Coach (Phil) Fuhlmer was here on Jan. 4," he said. "They both told me how much they wanted me and stuff. I know that Michigan got a commitment from another running back, but that doesn't mean anything to me, I'll go in and play wherever I go."

1 Comment:

Anonymous
said...

I live in Dallas and have seen Stafford play... to be honest he's a good QB but very over-hyped, I have watched Jeven Sneed from Stephenville and the kid is noticeably better than Stafford, as is Hakes from Nolan Catholic... He's got the same arm with better mechanics and alot of athleticism. Hakes is a sleeper, Sneed has his name out there with people in TX.